The act provides $643 million for troop housing and $151 million for hospital and medical facilities.

It also provides $771 million for new family housing units and $2.8 billion for operations and maintenance of existing housing units.

The act appropriates $1.17 billion for Army family housing, $1.23 billion for Navy and Marine Corps family housing and $1.19 billion for Air Force family housing.

The president requested $78 million for the DoD Family Housing Improvement Fund, which is used to fund housing privatization projects. Congress appropriated $2 million -- the other $76 million went into family housing military construction projects.

In the privatization program, basically, private companies build or refurbish family housing units and then manage them according to rules, rents and standards negotiated with DoD. The department invests 20 percent to 25 percent of the project cost; contractors borrow the rest from commercial financial institutions.

"Congress intended DoD to test the program first," said Mike Catanzaro, a congressional spokesman. "It's Congress' position that we first have to see if [privatization] works. Will it get housing for military families? The money appropriated will allow the services to continue pilot programs to test the initiative. You don't build a tank and put it right in the field, you test it after you develop it. This is the same thing."

Congress took the $76 million from the privatization program and programmed it toward traditional military family housing construction. Projects at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., are programmed for more than $22 million and projects at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif., $20 million.

Fort Lewis, Wash., has about $9 million for new housing and Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., $6 million. Naval Training Center Great Lakes, Ill., and Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., are slated to receive $14.4 million and almost $5 million, respectively, for construction improvements.

Joseph Sikes, DoD's director of competitive sourcing and privatization, said Congress' action works to the department's favor. He said DoD has the authority to use military construction money for traditional contracting or for privatization efforts if it chooses.

DoD has no such flexibility with privatization funds, Sikes said. For instance, if DoD decides for whatever reason not to proceed with a privatization project, that part of the fund cannot be transferred for use in a military construction account, he said.

Randall Yim, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations, said DoD is working with Congress to find the "right mix of privatized housing and traditional housing."

"There are certain areas not as conducive to privatization," he said. "Congress told us very clearly, they want the mix of housing. We are slowly going forward. We would all like to see a robust program."

Yim called privatization deals complicated. He predicted future projects will go much faster and smoother once DoD officials gain experience and have some completed projects under their belt.

Highlights of the military construction act include:

Alabama

Maxwell Air Force Base -- officer training school dormitory.

Dannelly Field Air National Guard Station -- medical training and dining facility.